a) Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a method for laying a mosaic in which a quantity of n individual mosaic elements are arranged on a common support surface so as to be separated from one another by joints, preferably for laying natural stones to form natural stone paving. The method is suitable for all laying work for mosaic elements in which joints are provided between the individual elements.
b) Description of the Related Art
In the relevant methods known from the prior art for laying mosaics, the mosaic elements are positioned individually one after the other on a laying or setting surface and, in so doing, oriented relative to one another with respect to height in such a way that the top sides of all of the mosaic elements have approximately the same distance to the setting surface and, accordingly, a useful surface is formed which, depending on its purpose, can be walked upon and/or driven upon. As a rule, the mosaic elements are set at a distance from one another, so that joints are formed between the mosaic elements, which joints must subsequently be filled. The individual mosaic elements are fixed in position relative to one another and relative to the setting surface at the same time that the joints are filled.
When laying a pavement of natural stones, for example, a setting surface is initially prepared on a roughly 5-cm thick layer of sand or stone chippings, the so-called pavement bed. The natural stones are sorted on the setting surface or on this pavement bed and are individually fixedly set with a hammer according to the rules of paving technique, wherein spaces in the width of the joint remain between the natural stones. The joints are then filled with sand or stone chippings or a mixture of these two materials and the entire surface is vibrated. The individual natural stones are now arranged so as to be immovable with respect to one another and the pavement can also be loaded in the direction of the pavement bed.
The essential disadvantage in this process consists in that the work steps required for laying the mosaic must be carried out directly at the laying site and every stone must be set individually. The need for handling every stone individually results in a large amount of time spent at the laying site. Further, all of the work steps, especially when laying pavement, depend to a great extent on the weather because unfavorable weather conditions cause downtime and accordingly delay execution. Accordingly, in regions affected by frost the laying work can often come to a total standstill for long periods of time.
Further, a process for laying mosaic elements is known from the prior art, wherein a small quantity of mosaic elements is attached to a flexible carrier comprising woven material or plastic sheeting at a location separate from the laying site, namely such that the position and spacing of these mosaic elements relative to one another already correspond to the position in the subsequent surface-covering mosaic in its entirety. In this way, parts of the total mosaic are prepared and then these parts are stacked in pallets, for example, and transported to the laying site and finally assembled at the laying site to form the finished mosaic. A process of this kind is used, for example, in the laying of small to medium-sized wall tile or floor tile.
The fastening of the mosaic elements to the flexible carrier is carried out in general by gluing in a workshop. A bed of tile cement or tile mortar is prepared at the laying site and the flexible carrier with the glued on mosaic elements is embedded therein. In so doing, the carrier remains between the glue bed or mortar bed and underside of the tiles. This process is disadvantageous in that it is unsuitable for heavy mosaic elements such as natural stones for road paving because, on the one hand, the carrying capacity of the woven fabric or plastic sheeting is limited and, on the other hand, it is difficult to achieve a durable connection between the heavy natural stones and the carrier material. Moreover, particularly with respect to road paving, owing to the woven or plastic intermediate layer which would remain under the paving after it has been laid, the required minimum carrying capacity could not be achieved and the life of the paving would be negatively impacted.